February 2020

At the beginning of February we had a surprise snow day! It came down in huge flakes and made for a fun day (most of it was fully melted within 24 hours!).

Max's pal Saskia turned seven in February and had a birthday party at a circus school. The kids had fun learning acrobatic tricks!

Do you think Saskia was happy about her cake? Haha!

The snow was unexpected and Max went to hang out with Denise while Ben was on run with the guys and I was getting my hair cut. With the snowy roads, Ben and Max ended up stuck at the Krueger's house for several hours. In addition to playing in the snow, Max was living his best life snuggled up in Walter and Denise's bed watching a science program on Netflix. I think he enjoyed the novelty of this experience almost as much as the snow!

The Krueger's blew up a pool float that Max used as a makeshift sled!

Once Ben and Max made it back home, Max and I had fun playing in the snow. Unfortunately Max's jacket and sneakers were still wet from when he played in the snow at the Krueger's house, so he didn't last very long. I ended up playing alone and building snowmen, etc. for almost another hour. Haha! We all warmed up with hot chocolate, popcorn, and a movie later on.

Max got a lizard at Dollar Tree and we put it in the tub for about a week and it grew to 1' 9"!

We redeemed the passes to Tiny Towne that Santa gave Max for Christmas!

Max went to a birthday party for his friend Rayden from Cub Scouts. Ben caught this funny photo of Max enjoying his pizza in a party hat!

Snuggled up in bed reading!

Max's teachers occasionally send us photos via an app that we use for check in/out, communication with teachers, etc. This is a photo of Max giving his first research presentation! He worked really hard putting it together, and practiced the presentation over and over. Max even worked up to being able to share some of the content without reading the poster. He did a great job!

January 2020

It's been a fun start to the new year! We don't have too many photos to share, but here's what we have...

I've recently been able to adjust my work schedule so that I can pick-up Max at 3:00 carpool on Friday's. We've been enjoying our first few Friday afternoons together!

Max received origami paper for his birthday last fall and we recently checked out some origami books from the library. Max made these with minimal help - impressive!

Playing with Dad's childhood Star Wars figurines. :-)

This is Max's favorite outfit right now. He wore it day after day in the last week of winter break, and complained when I "made him" take a break from it because it needed to be washed. :-)

 Max received a sewing kit for his birthday last fall, and we had fun making a little stuffed monster! (Previously we made a monster wallet.)

All the cars lined up for the Pinewood Derby!

We celebrated Erich, Heather, and Grammie's birthdays which all happen over the course of about a month!

Max was really excited to receive a drivers license! 

Hard work pays off! Max's car came in second place among the Tigers (i.e., Dens with first graders). He was so proud (just look at that smile!) and told us that the trophy is made of real gold. :-)

Here are some videos from Pinewood Derby. Each car got four runs -- one in each position on the track. Each Scout competed against his peer age group, so the cars he's racing aren't necessarily the people with which he was competing. I believe they took the average of the four scores to determine final rankings. I (Laura) volunteers to help put the cars on the ramp. We had to be precise about it, and it ended up being really fun!

December 2019

It was a festive December at our house! Here's a avalanche of photos...

Each year my college roommate and sorority sister, Alicia, hosts a gingerbread house building party. Unfortunately we were only able to stop by for about 30 minutes this year as we had to head out for Max's school holiday concert. We wanted to take a photo of the boys and they struck this pose, so of course the moms followed suit! (Side note: I'm feeling incredibly old in realizing Alicia and I have known each other for almost 20 years! How in the world did that happen....)

Max got really in to drawing portraits one day!

 

Dressed up for the Christmas Eve service at church!

Letter to Santa

Max wrote out his "to do" list on the board and I snapped this photo to remember the sweet "P.S." message at the bottom!

Max and I have a tradition of going to Waffle House for breakfast (and sitting at the counter) then going to shop for Daddy's Christmas gift. We both love it, and I look forward to it all year!

After Waffle House we went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop and made a Christmas countdown craft.

Santa!

We went to see "Elf" the musical at a local high school and Max was pumped to sit between his cousin Olivia and her boyfriend Austin.

While his face doesn't show it here, Max was really excited to meet Buddy the Elf after the show. The kid who played Buddy did a GREAT job talking to the kids and stayed in character the whole time.

Working on holiday gift crafts for all the pets in our extended family!

Snapshots of the holiday concert at school. Max is on the front row in a green reindeer sweater.

Cub Scouts hosted a "Sock Wars" event. Each scout had to bring 10-12 pairs of mens socks balled up, and then they had competitions throwing the socks back and forth. At the end of the event all the socks were collected and donated to a homeless shelter. They even had a "parents vs. kids" round which was a blast. Good fun (aka - total chaos!) and a good way to give back!

Grammie sent paper Star Wars figures in the mail that Max and Ben had fun building. We ended up packing them away with our Christmas decor so we can use them on our mantle each year!

Christmas party with the Winiarski's and Kruger's! Max, Saskia, and Abby (the dog) sure do like each other!

Baking homemade chocolate chip cookies for Santa!

Handsome guys ready for Christmas Eve at church!

Max took this photo - he did a nice job!

He also wanted to take a photo of us holding the Christmas gifts he gave us! :-)

Pretending to be a Christmas present!

Santa came!

Since Max's room is upstairs and he can see the tree / gifts when he comes out of his room, Santa leaves a note and a bell in his room when he delivers gifts on Christmas Eve. At the end of the letter there are instructions to ring the bell loudly and yell, "Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!" This give us a chance to wake-up, get lights turned on, camera ready, etc. before comes downstairs.

Excited to check out gifts from Santa, mom and Dad, and our gifts from New England relatives!

Max got the "big" gift he wanted from Mom and Dad - a skateboard!!

We headed to Grammie's house mid-morning and spent the afternoon celebrating with Grammie, Erich, and Heather.

It ended up being a relatively warm day, so we were able to play outside.

After Chattanooga it was over to Hiawassee to celebrate Christmas with the Lilly's and Hedges' the next day.

Max has his first pinewood derby for Cub Scouts coming up, so Grandaddy (an Eagle Scout), John (a talented woodworker), Ben, and Max all worked on the car.

Max made Christmas ornaments for all the pets!

Max had fun playing with Olivia's dog Ivey, and Austin's dog Piper (also a German Shepherd).

Max ADORES Austin. :-)

Annual photo of Max putting the star on our tree!

On a wintery walk with Dad!

Santa! Max was more excited than he appears. Haha

Mom and Dad made the good list, too!

Our annual tradition of going to little, quiet Chinese restaurant after the Christmas Eve service at church. We always sit in the same booth and order the same food!

Ignore the squinty 5:30AM faces... :-)  Sweet boy picked out a knife sharpener for my gift because he's heard me mention I need one, and knows I love to cook!

Max picked out a running shirt, salsa, and M&Ms for Dad, because those are all things he enjoys!

Ben saved his Star Wars action figures from his own childhood and gave them to Max for Christmas. Max was excited to get it, and there have already been some battles!

Birthday party for Jesus on Christmas morning! Max blew out the candle for him. ;-)

Celebrating Christmas with the Kruger's and Winiarski's!

We started playing a game with the kids called "Headbanz," and after a while we realized all the kids had left to go play elsewhere and the adults were still sitting at the table playing. Haha! We had fun!

Outtake while Walter was trying to get the camera tripod and timer set-up. :-)